


First Morning of Many

by Flynne



Series: Thaddeus Ryder [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Rick Astley is Eternal and Thaddeus is Incorrigible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:38:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flynne/pseuds/Flynne
Summary: The morning after the battle at the Meridian command center. Just two dorks waking up together.





	First Morning of Many

Thad smiled to himself as he awakened. He’d fallen asleep with Gil curled against him, and even though they weren’t touching now, he was close enough to feel him warming the bed. He opened his eyes, blinking in the dim light coming through the viewports as the _Tempest_ began her day cycle. When he looked over, he saw that Gil was already awake, stretched out on his side, watching him. He smiled. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Thad rolled onto his side to face him, mirroring his pose. “Well. You don’t snore.”

Gil chuckled low in his throat, looking more relaxed and happy than Thad had ever seen him. “Good morning to you, too.”

“So how does it feel to get more than four hours of sleep?”

“I could get used to it,” Gil said with a wink.

Thad grinned and sat up just long enough to snag the hair tie off the nightstand where he’d tossed it the night before, only wincing a little as his battle-sore muscles twinged. He finger-combed the tangles out of his long hair before pulling it back to be out of his face. When he lay back down, Gil was still watching him, but there was a strange expression on his face. “...What? What is it?”

“Do you always come back like that?” Gil asked slowly.

Thad frowned. “Like what?” He lifted the blanket a little to glance down at himself. “...Oh.” Angry-looking bruises spread in wide swaths across his arms and torso. He’d known they were there yesterday, but they’d darkened overnight, leaving mottled black and purple patches, tinted sickly green around the edges. “Yikes.”

“When you got back yesterday, you said you were all right.”

“I was. I am,” Thad replied. “I mean, I’m kinda sore and Lexi’s yoga isn't going to be fun today, but I’m fine. My shields took a beating and dropped a few times, but that’s what I’ve got armor for.” He gave Gil a lopsided smile. “Good ol’ physics. Armor stops ammo but all that force has got to go somewhere.”

“More than just your shields took a beating.” Gil reached across the arm’s-length distance between them, resting his palm over the massive bruise in the center of Thad’s chest. “I can’t believe I didn’t see them last night.”

“Well...I mean, it _was_ dark. And they weren’t as bad then.” Thad waggled his eyebrows. “And I can be very distracting.”

Gil huffed a laugh, but the furrow between his brows didn’t go away. “I feel like I should have noticed.”

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Thad insisted. Seeing Gil’s dubious look, he added, “Really. It’s not as bad as it looks. It’s like...I dunno, it’s how I feel after an intense game of paintball. I mean, maybe a little worse, but still.”

“Paintball,” Gil echoed flatly.

“Yeah.” But Gil didn’t look satisfied with that answer, thumb lightly tracing the edge of the bruise. Thad lay very still, watching Gil’s face, waiting for him to make eye contact again. Now that he had shifted from his back to his side, the pressure on his body had changed, and he could feel his chest aching a little beneath the warmth of Gil’s hand. The kett general had shot him from barely fifteen feet away. The impact had shattered his flickering shield, knocked the wind out of him, and blasted him back against the half wall he’d been using for cover. Only Vetra’s quick action and covering fire had given him the crucial seconds he’d needed to recover and shoot back with an unsteady hand.

“It’s not always like this,” he said gently, when Gil finally lifted his gaze to his face again. “Meridian...well, _not_ -Meridian...was tough. It got kind of dicey at the end. But to answer your question: no, I don’t come back all beat up all the time. Just...sometimes.”

“You would’ve said something if you were hurt, right?” Gil asked. “If I’d known last night, I wouldn’t’ve...we could’ve waited.”

“Hey.” Thad sobered, putting his hand over Gil’s, threading their fingers together. “Trust, remember? You asked me if I needed time, and I gave you an honest answer. Doesn’t matter that you didn’t know. If I was hurting, if I’d needed to stop, I would have told you. Okay?”

For a minute, he wondered if Gil was going to need more convincing...but he didn’t. He relaxed, smiling a little as he squeezed Thad’s hand. “Okay.”

Trust. As easy as that. As easy as it had been to say _I love you_. The effortlessness of it made Thad giddy, and he grinned and squeezed back.

Gil’s affectionate smile took on a wry slant. “Just do me a favor. At least _try_ to duck occasionally?”

Thad laughed. “Okay, I won’t let you down.”

“Good.”

“And I won’t give you up.’’

Gil looked pleased, but puzzled at the non-sequitur. “That’s…also good…?”

“And I’ll never run around and desert you.”

The penny dropped with an almost audible thud. Gil groaned, flopped onto his back and covered his face with his hands. “I walked right into it.”

“Never gonna make you cry…”

“This is painful, you know that, right?”

Thad laughed again, propping himself up on his elbow and reaching out to grab Gil’s arm as he started to get up. “Gil, wait, I just want to tell you how I’m feeling!”

Gil tried unsuccessfully to hide his amusement. “I was trying to have a serious conversation with you, you idiot.”

“But I’ve gotta make you underst-MMPH!” The rest of his words were muffled as Gil smacked him in the face with his pillow and tackled him down onto the mattress.


End file.
